Everyone by now has an opinion about the DOGE fiasco playing out in the first month of the Trump Administration…..but did know the head of the agency is a parasite on the government money?

Elmo has made billions thanx to lucrative contracts with the government….

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, owes much of his wealth to government funding, even as he pledges to slash billions with his Department of Government Efficiency initiative.

A new Washington Post report found that the tech mogul/fascism enthusiast built his fortune from $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits going back more than 20 years. Musk’s companies received at least $6.3 billion in commitments from state and local governments in 2024 alone, and this is likely an undercount.

The total amount of government funding that Musk has received is likely much higher, given that federal funding related to defense and intelligence projects is often classified. For example, Musk’s company SpaceX has a contract to build spy satellites from the National Reconnaissance Office, an intelligence agency tasked with building satellites for national defense. That contract is reportedly worth $1.8 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.

According to the Post, Musk’s companies have close to a dozen other local grants, tax credits, and reimbursements whose costs are not publicly known. Musk also has 52 ongoing contracts with seven government agencies—including the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, and NASA—that could pay his companies $11.8 billion in the next few years.

Tesla has been a major beneficiary of federal and state government funding, receiving $11.4 billion in regulatory credits meant to boost electric cars. Tesla sales have been helped by a $7,500 tax credit for buyers of electric vehicles too.

https://newrepublic.com/post/192001/elon-musk-government-funding-wealth

I would wager that none of his very lucrative contracts are on the chopping block.

How about you?

This is how you make sure your business interests are protected.

Word is the the contracts that have been terminated by DOGE may not be the cash cow they are said to be….

News accounts continue to challenge Elon Musk’s claims of major savings thanks to the Department of Government Efficiency he runs. On Monday, DOGE published an updated “wall of receipts” list of about 2,300 contracts that have been terminated across the federal government. The problem? The AP reports that nearly 800 of those cancellations won’t yield any savings whatsoever because the money already has been committed.

• “It’s like confiscating used ammunition after it’s been shot when there’s nothing left in it. It doesn’t accomplish any policy objective,” says Charles Tiefer, an expert on government contracting law. “Their terminating so many contracts pointlessly obviously doesn’t accomplish anything for saving money.”
• As a story at Axios explains, the only way to get truly meaningful savings would be to cut defense, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, which collectively make up 86% of the budget. President Trump, however, has promised not to touch any of them.
• “When you consider where federal money really goes, most DOGE oddities and outrages amount to rounding errors in a sea of government obligations,” write Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei.
• A defense: The AP quotes an anonymous administration official who says the canceled contracts are still important for the message they send about efficiency. And the Axios piece cites a Harris Poll survey showing that 72% of registered voters back the idea of an agency focused on the issue. “So Trump and his aides correctly calculate that both the cuts and the tales of government insanity are popular with the vast majority of Americans,” the outlet notes.

I think that this agency will be no more effective than the last Trump administration.

But that is just me.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”